It bags aren't really our thing. UM bags are a different story. Architect turned designer Josh Jakus, the brains behind Cali-based design company Actual, set out to build a bag from nothing more than a piece of industrial felt and a zipper. The result: his UM series, appealingly odd, organically shaped sculptures you can sling over your shoulder. Made in the US, in part from recycled fibers, the quirky carryalls lay totally flat once unzipped for easy storage. JP design destination Room 68 just received several styles, including this UM Pack ($150). Minimalist design that can carry all your crap? Um, yeah.

WHERE TO GET IT | Room 68 :: 68 South St, Jamaica Plain | 617.942.7425 or room68online.com

Me time It’s a lazy weekday afternoon, and we’re finishing breakfast at Kevin Micka’s house in Jamaica Plain.

Ravishing beauty The wreckage at the end of Modernist art's main thrust is the starting point for "Pat Steir: Drawing Out of Line," a four-decade retrospective of the New Yorker's drawings at the RISD Museum.

Review: Julian Casablancas at the Paradise Casablancas's solo debut, Phrazes for the Young (RCA), is a bizarre and twisted romp through sophisticated musical stylings that, especially in a live setting, sound light years away from the compact garage minimalism of early Strokes. This was evident from the first notes of the show.

Tedium and enchantment Can it be a good sign when a curator writes that the artist he's featuring in her first US museum survey "has laid bare the creative act in all its tedium and enchantment for over two decades"?

The man in the yellow fur coat The cultural critic Mark Dery worked as a clerk for Manhattan's Gotham Book Mart in the early '80s. One afternoon, he was taken by surprise.

Review: Bill Cunningham New York Richard Press's sweet, heartfelt celebration of the New York Times ' fashion photographer, Bill Cunningham, is already a sensation in the Big Apple, where it has smashed box-office records at the Film Forum.

Make way for cornhole When I left Chicago for Boston three years ago, I expected to leave a few things behind. Friendliness, for one, and deep-dish pizza, and modernist architecture, and perfect hot dogs, and . . . cornhole.

The dashing pirate of Providence Casey Dorman of Providence was walking to work on the stone wharfs of Rockport, Massachusetts one day this summer when he crossed paths with Johnny Depp, fresh off another box-office conquest as Captain Jack Sparrow in the latest of the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

STYLE BUZZ IN BRIEF | March 06, 2013 When the ICA hosted Shepard Fairey's first-ever museum survey in 2009, Boston rolled out the welcome mat — and then promptly pulled it out from under him: the BPD arrested Fairey for outstanding graffiti warrants on his way to the opening.

VISIONARY TECH: ADLENS EYEWEAR | March 06, 2013 The round glasses worn by John Lennon and legions of hippies may soon be more than throwback fashion statements, if British eyewear brand Adlens has its way.

MASS APPEAL: UNITED SCENTS OF AMERICA | February 13, 2013 We're relieved to report that Sasha Bertran and Samantha Sherwin, the minds (and noses) behind United Scents of America, eschewed eau de dirty water when concocting their brand-new fragrance, Massachusetts.